Back to Oregon!

A little over a year later we have the opportunity to return to Oregon. We will spend most of our time at Fernwood in Sweet Home, but also some time in Portland and Dayton.

We arrived in Sweet Home on Friday, June 25 after our flight from Atlanta to Portland and driving to Sweet Home. So what have we done for the last three days? Enjoy beautiful Oregon blue skies, helped bring in hay, walked about, rode the horse, played tennis, and go to an classic car show (among other things).

Julie - Last Hurrah

Our last non-travel day on vacation was spent in Dayton celebrating the engagement of Chris and Lisa. Chris is my nephew (Kelly's son). Chris and Lisa met at Oregon Institutue of Techonology where Chris will complete his degree one year from now. Lisa has completed a graduate degree in accounting and is working in Klamath Falls while Chris finishes up.

The day was filled with good food and catching up and with meeting new people. This was the first time that we have met Lisa. We are delighted she is becoming part of the family -- hoping she feels the same after seeing us all together!


As you can see, George and Nathan had some bonding time and, yes, the three women in the picture below are related -- that's Nancy, Kelly, and me.

Below is the entire Hotchkiss, Haverkate, and Lantis clan (minus Daniel who had not yet arrived from work).

Julie - Arrival of Lantis Family to Fernwood

My sister, Nancy, and her family arrived at Fernwood on Thursday. Fun was had by all hanging out, riding horses, etc. We haven't seen George since he was immobile; having fun keeping up with him.

Nancy has a new website; very exciting to see all that she's been up to:
http://www.nancylantis.com/

Roberta got to ride on Red bareback -- said her legs are very sore!

Bob and Roberta left us today to do campus visits of Willamette University in Salem (my alma mater) and Reed College in Portland. I am breathlessly awaiting her blog posting describing the visits.

We will be seeing them again Saturday at Chris and Lisa's wedding shower in Dayton.

Julie - It's all about wood

Much of the Oregon economy revolves around wood products. In 2008, employment in wood products manufacturing made up 14% of all manufacturing employment in Oregon. In the U.S., the wood products industry employs only 3.4% of all manufacturing workers.

Wood is apparently also an important part of the maintanance of the Fernwood household. On Wednesday we made a small contribution to earning our keep by helping to haul and burn slash that collects in the forested areas on the property.


Nathan later helped to split some of the larger logs that were gathered. This machine evaporated any hope that Nathan will be building up his upper-body strength while here in Oregon.

Julie - Blast from the past

Apperently I have been to Sedona, Arizona, before in my life. Here is a picture of me (R) and my sister, Kelly (L) on our way to visit my Grandma Hotchkiss, who was living in Sedona at the time. The year was 1967. Did you see how saftey minded we were is those days? Notice the seat belt my dad installed in the back of the pickup to hold me and my sister in.

On that trip, my family camped in Oak Creek Canyon and my mom remembers the slide rock swimming area in which you can see Nathan wading in one of Bob's earlier posts. Here is a link to the modern day camping and swimming area (http://www.dreamsedona.com/oak-creek-loop.html).

Julie - More Toys at Camp Fernwood

My dad has a friend who loaned us his Segway for the day. That is something I've been wanting to try. I know that some tour companies (even in Atlanta) use Segways to give city tours. It is very cool and is more all-terrain than you might think.

Here's a video of Roberta mastering the borrowed toy.

Julie - Gone Fishin'

The fish had to be cajoled, but finally relented to being our supper. Nathan was hot, catching three trout in a row.

Roberta's luck was little slower. You should have seen the one that got away!

Finally, she got her fish!

We ended up with four trout ranging in length from 17" to 18 1/4". My sister, Kelly, joined us for lunch the next day. Bob made a great basil-dijon butter sauce and we had a strawberry pie for dessert -- quite a feast.

As you can see from this video, there are plenty of fish left to be caught another day...